Adventures in Research: G. Frisbie Hoar Tells It

Adventures in Research

G. Frisbie Hoar Tells It

Thomas Nast 1865. (Wikipedia)

In my studies, I came across a NYT obit of George Frisbie Hoar, political veteran of fifty-plus years, Massachusetts Senator, anti-imperialist (1826-1904). I was curious to learn something about Mr. Hoar, because he may be a distant and peripheral family connection. Enjoy this excerpt illustrating his oratorical style (which bears on the Spanish-American war, a topic taken up in Hammersmith):

I confess I do not like to think of the genius of America angry, snarling, shouting, screaming, kicking, clawing with her nails. I like rather to think of her in her august and serene beauty, inspired by a sentiment, even toward her enemies, not of hate, but of love, perhaps a little pale in the cheeks, and a dangerous light in her eyes, but with a smile on her face; as sure, as determined, unerring, invincible as the Archangel Michael when he struck down and trampled upon the demon of darkness.

Hoar meant America as Being; her name was Columbia, as her sister Britannia allegorically represents England. (Probably Britannia hasn’t been much called on for public service recently, either.) This speech was made during our country’s expansion period of the 1890s, deploring America’s war with Philippine insurgents.